Lance Alvin Stobbe

Lance Alvin Stobbe, 58, passed away in New Hope on December 26, 2025, following a 30+ year battle with Advanced Chronic Progressive Multiple Sclerosis with quadriparesis.

He was born on November 4th, 1967, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The son of Alvin Stobbe and Janice (Arvig) Stobbe. Lance was raised in Golden Valley, MN., and a 1986 graduate of Minnehaha Academy. He attended both Landmark College in Vermont, and Augsburg College in Minneapolis. He worked mostly in construction and was also a building inspector. He had his private pilot's license and enjoyed flying with his dad.

Lance grew up traveling all over with his family in the US, Europe, Mexico & Canada. He learned to scuba dive as a young kid in Hawaii. Many cruises: his favorites were the one in Alaska and the one through the Panama Canal with a stop in Venezuela. He spent a month during college taking a sailing class around the Caribbean Islands. He was a down-hill ski racer in high school. Many family trips were spent out west skiing. He also went helicopter skiing with college friends in Calgary Canada. He loved playing games with his extremely competitive family - where everyone wants to win. He played his last game on Christmas Day and won!

Early Symptoms of MS:

Lance was in Colorado with one of his sisters, and said, "my legs feel weird," as they were skiing a black diamond mogul run. That following summer on another visit to Colorado it was very noticeable that something was wrong with his walking. The doctors believed he developed MS as a teenager and was diagnosed at 27-1/2 years old.

Lance started to experience physical and mental fatigue, and involuntary leg spasms. His foot was dragging, and he was tripping. He eventually had to use 4-arm crutches. Every couple of years he would lose more function but did not complain. Only showing frustration when he started having trouble talking and could no longer even sign his own name. His world continued to grow smaller from a manual wheelchair to an electric one. MS impacted his ability to maintain independence, his quality of life, and even the simplest thing - losing his vocabulary which was complicated by his dyslexia. 

We are thankful for the staff at North Ridge Health & Rehab for their loving care of Lance for the last three plus years and to St. Croix Hospice for making Lance comfortable in his last days.

Lance had the most aggressive form of MS. Progressive MS ended his life. He did not deserve any of it, nor did we deserve to lose him.

Lance is preceded in death by his mom, Janice (Arvig) Stobbe. He is survived by his dad, Al (Golden Valley MN); his sisters, Lynne Stobbe (St. Louis Park, MN.) & Dawne (John) Rohlf (Northville, MI); nephew, Eric Rohlf (Kalamazoo MI); niece, Allison (John) Kenney (Mcfarland, WI); great nephew & niece, Austin and Alexandra Kenney.

In grief we experience strange things: Concentration is lost. Cognitive ability is reduced. Word blindness and forgetting. This is grief, but it is also MS.

Funeral Service 11am Friday, January 9th at Bradshaw, 2800 Curve Crest Blvd., Stillwater, with visitation beginning one hour prior. Interment at Union Cemetery in Maplewood.